This disclosure relates to a system and method for monitoring and managing wireless data, data usage and data plans, and more particularly, a system and method for facilitating collection and display of information related to data usage by a plurality of mobile devices.
Existing shared data plan subscription models offered by service providers' present challenges for both subscribers and service providers alike. When mobile device users typically subscribe to a shared data plan with a data connection provider (e.g., a telecommunications operator), the shared data plan will have various limitations and costs including data consumption limits and costs associated with use of the mobile devices to transmit or receive wireless data over the connection provided by the data connection provider. Limits and costs can vary from plan to plan, operator to operator, network to network, country to country and access technology to access technology. The data connection may be provided according to various types of access technologies, such as through a 2G, 3G, 4G, or LTE wireless mobile network or a Wi-Fi™ connection, for example.
In view of the limitations and costs placed on mobile device users via their shared data plans, there is generally a need for mobile device users using shared data plans to be able to better understand and monitor their group data use. For example, users may use their understanding of their data use to alter their plan, limit their data use and/or keep data use below data plan thresholds. Some service providers offer data monitoring software to help users track and display their total and/or ongoing data usage throughout a billing cycle or data plan period. However, typical data monitoring systems are generally not capable of effectively monitoring data use over more than one mobile device, which may operate with heterogeneous platforms across one or more networks.
This type of environment where detailed, robust information is not available to a user on a timely basis can result in surprise costs for users (e.g. bill shock). It can also result in costs for the data connection provider as it can lead to increased churn by frustrated users, increased support call costs from misunderstood bills, and/or revenue loss through bill negotiations, for example. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and systems for tracking, interpreting and displaying mobile device-related usage information to both users and service providers for shared data plans.
Data connection providers may also wish to provide users with customized experiences and/or targeted offers. Typical data connection providers may use systems for obtaining information from user feedback or from high level network data and try to take appropriate action based on the obtained information. However, not all users provide feedback to such systems and user feedback obtained by these systems may be incomplete or obtained too late for a provider to take action. Furthermore, systems for analyzing high level network data may not obtain information having sufficient detail for a data connection provider to take action. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and systems for obtaining detailed real time mobile device user information and taking action based on the obtained information by, for example, providing users with a customized experience and/or targeted offers.